There is a common misconception among Muslims that whenever there is a group of Muslims travelling together, they need to choose an amir (commander/leader). This is because of the (weak) hadith narrated by Abu Dawud in his Sunan via the Medinan follower Abu Salama, from Abu Sa’id al-Khudri (may God be pleased with him), that God’s Messenger ﷺ said, ‘When three (or more) go on a journey, they should appoint one of them as a commander.’ (Sunan Abu Dawud # 2608). Abu Dawud then follows this with another version of this hadith in which Abu Salama narrates it not from Abu Sa’id al-Khudri, but from Abu Hurayra. It contains the additional comment that Nafi’, the student of Abu Salama, said to Abu Salama upon hearing this: ‘Then we choose you as our commander’. (Sunan Abu Dawud # 2609).
However, the hadith masters Abu Hatim al-Razi, Abu Zur’a al-Razi and al-Daraqutni have shown that this hadith is a mistake. Abu Salama never narrated this hadith with a connected chain to God’s Messenger ﷺ but rather in a disconnected (mursal) manner. It was people down the line who by mistake filled-in the gap by inserting sometimes Abu Sa’id al-Khudri and sometimes Abu Hurayra.(1)
What is authentically narrated via Abu Sa’id al-Khudri (may God be pleased with him) is that God’s Messenger (pbuh) said,
“When there are three (or more), let them appoint one of them as a prayer leader (imam), and the one who is most entitled to be the prayer leader is he who knows the most Qur’an.”
Sahih Muslim # 672, Sunan al-Nasa’i # 840). The follower narrating it from Abu Sa’id al-Khudri is Abu Nadra.
Therefore God’s Messenger ﷺ was speaking about appointing someone for the role of leading the prayers, not stipulating that every congregation needs a commander to make decisions for it. It appears that this narration, correctly narrated from Abu Sa’id al-Khudri via Abu Nadra, reached another follower, Abu Salama, in a distorted fashion. Abu Salama, not having a proper (or good enough) chain for this wording, only narrated it as a disconnected hadith. Narrators down the line mistakingly filled-in the chain and made it connected. Although it should be noted in addition that the very chains to Abu Salama himself are weak anyway.(2)
As for the instruction that a group should have a commander, this was the advice of the second caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab (may God be pleased with him). Al-Bazzar narrated that Umar ibn al-Khattab (may God be pleased with him) said,
“When there is a group of three (or more), let them choose one of them as a commander (amir).
Imam al-Bazzar then noted that one narrator mistakingly turned this into a Prophetic teaching by adding at the end of this hadith, “That will be a commander placed in command by God’s Messenger ﷺ.” The hadith thus became, “When there is a group of three (or more), let them choose one of them as a commander. That will be a commander placed in command by God’s Messenger ﷺ.” In other words, according to this mistaken addition, Umar ibn al-Khattab is saying that this is not his own instruction but goes back to God’s Messenger himself, and therefore it is as if God’s Messenger has given command to the appointed commander of each group. Al-Hakim narrated it thus in his Mustadrak and said, “This hadith is authentic according to the condition of Bukhari and Muslim, but they did not include it in their books.”
However, Imam al-Bazzar and al-Daraqutni showed that this addition a mistake and that this was only the advice of Umar ibn al-Khattab himself (may God be pleased with him).(3)
(1) See al-Musnad al-Musannaf al-Mu’allal, vol. 28, pp. 602-604. The chains back to Abu Salama are weak anyway because they come from Ibn Ajlan narrating from Nafi’, and as the hadith master Yahya al-Qattan said, Ibn Ajlan’s narrations from Nafi’ are full of mistakes and he did not give them any value.
(2) See al-Musnad al-Musannaf al-Mu’allal, vol. 28, p. 603.
(3) See Musnad al-Bazzar, vo. 1, p. 462 (hadith # 329); al-Musnad al-Musannaf al-Mu’allal, vol. 22, pp. 464-465; Muqbil bin Hadi al-Wadi’i, Ahadith Mu’alla Zahiruha l-Sihha, p. 318.
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